Hole-In-One competitions and golf driving ranges are becoming an increasingly popular form of recreation. In the case of Hole-In-One competitions, or practise ranges which reward a player for scoring a hole-in-one, it is important for the operator of the competition or practise range to have a means which positively detects the presence of a golf ball in a cup without the need for the operator to visually inspect the cup.
The patent literature discloses a number of devices for detecting the presence of a golf ball in a cup. Such detectors range from mechanical switches installed in the cup (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,270,751 and 4,922,222) to photoelectric or electromagnetic detectors installed in the cup (U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,534) for sensing the presence of a ball in the cup and for generating an audible or visual alarm when detection occurs.
Each of the detection devices thus far proposed suffers from at least one serious disadvantage. The most serious disadvantage is that the detectors will not operate properly if a golf flag pole is installed in the cup. In the case of the mechanical switches, the ball will not necessarily lodge in the cup in a position to activate the switch. In the case of the photoelectric detector, the presence of the flag pole in the cup would break the photoelectric beam thereby setting off the alarm and rendering the detector useless.
Standard golf cups are divided by internal ribs into four quadrants, and when a flag pole is installed in the hole, the ball may drop into any one of the quandrants. None of the devices briefly outlined above function to securely detect the presence of the golf ball in a standard cup with a flag pole lodged in the cup.